The news about a new space-based early-warning system, EKS (for Edinaya Kosmicheskaya Sistema) first surfaced in 2007. At the time, the military expected to begin flight tests of the system in 2009. When the time came, the hope was still that the new satellite will fly in late 2011- early 2012. Now it looks like the ministry of defense wants to recover the money for the delay.

A report in Kommersant describes a lawsuit brought by the ministry of defense against Energia Corporation, which was awarded the contract for the EKS system back in 2007. The original contract called for the satellite to be delivered in 2008 (presumably in time for a flight test in 2009). The contract was then extended to May 2010, but the ministry of defense argues that the extension is not valid. The court sided with Energia denying MoD a compensation for the delay.

What's interesting is that the report mentions that Energia did deliver the product in December 2009. Given the timelines, it does not appear to be an actual satellite ready for flight test - my guess it was a concept or a draft design. The satellite still appears to be a few years off - not least because, according to Energia, the military are asking for a system that "does not take into account actual capabilities of the industry."